Who is Zarganar?

Video copied from Arzarni Blog/original m4 news

This post is meant for non Burmese readers who wish to know more about Burmese activist, comedian, and a dental surgeon.Initially most of the Burmese people have known him only as a popular comedian in early 80s. By mid 80s, he became a very popular figure among Burmese for stinging and daring jokes relating Burmese Socialist Government . After 1988 uprising, his life has totally changed into pro democracy activist. Due to that reason he was in an out of Burmese jails during last 20 years.

He was arrested again on 5th of June 2008, for unknown reason, by Military Junta of Burma. Before the latest arrest, he was actively involved in helping Cyclone Nagis victims. He did not fail to criticize Military Junta for failure to save the thousand of lives aftermath of Cyclone.

This blogger has several posts about Zarganar in this weblog. Check at catagory drawdown menu at left column and look for ZARGANAR. You will find who he is.

Sit Mone

Read Zarganar’s diary at KadaungNyinTha’s blog

I have found Ko Kadaung has posted Zarganar’s diary in his blog( In Burmese). You will find why Zarganar deserves Hero title with other unsung heroes of Burma…

Like Zin Wine, Moe Win, Moe Min and others…

Follow this like to read these great posts

http://kadaung.iblogger.org/

 

Sit Mone

Zarganar will be the director of the Movie, “Biography of General Aung San”

Famous comedian and well respected activist Zarganar has started writing the scripts of the Movie, ” Biography of General Aung San”.

According to Irawaddy on-line news, Zaragnar said the Movie, Biography of General Aung San was overdue for the successive generation of the artist to make into reality.

History of Burma and General Aung San was homogeneous, he said. He has invited, suggestion and advice to his blog at the following link in Burmese.

http://www.zarganar-windoor.blogspot.com/

Zargnar will be looking for the International Producer , for the Movie, as General Aung San, the father of Daw Aung Suu Kyi is a well known International Figure, by saying ” If you talk about Burma and General Aung San is not included, delete the Map of Burma from the World Atlas”

He has intention of directing the movies of ” Ex Dictator Ne Win” and other villains of Burma in the near future.

Source Irrawaddy

Bravo Ko Thura! We all love to watch the Movie of General Aung San. Also don’t foreget to make the movies of the GREAT VILLAINS OF BURMA.

Sit Mone

Zarganar said DJ Disease deeply rooted in the Military Junta of Burma!

DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) http://burmese.dvb.no/news.php?id=3412

has recently interviewed the activist comedian Zarganar asking his opinion regarding the steep rise of the Satellite TV fees in Burma.

He disagreed with the rumors circulating that the Gamblers, who were betting on the premier league football games, were affected by the new price increase.

He explained that in Burma there are two types of Satellite dishes, 8 feet and 2 feet versions respectively named (according to the diameter of dishes).

The majority of the ordinary Burmese will go for 8 feet version which is cheaper, and mainly for the purpose of watching and listening to the DVB and RFA and BBC channels.

(The Gamblers in Burma were relying on the Pay TV channels by using 2 feet dishes, which were not included in the new one million kyat a year rule)

The Junta Government’s targeting of the 8 feet Satellite dishes reflected their intention of blocking the free flow of media to the Burmese people.

One million Kyat a year fees levied on the 8 feet satellite dish users, is too much for the Burmese, and Zarganar requested that the authorities stop this foolish act, as the actual cost of a dish and a decoder is only half a million kyat.

Zarganar sarcastically said that the Junta Government seems to be ashamed of officially declaring the price hike. Instead, they ordered the Swan Ah Shin, and Kyant Phut (Junta Thugs) and local authorities to check the list of houses with Satellite Dishes in their respective areas.

When DVB asked Zarganar whether he thinks Burmese Junta will be able to block the free flow of information in the 21^st Century…

He replied that it will make people more curious as Burmese people will go to the places where they can listen and watch and felt that DVB and other news channels will eventually make Burmese News more interesting for the Burmese people.

In the end, he said, there will be more pirated news VCDs available for the Burmese people for the news they would really love to know.

In answering the Question “Why the Military Junta wants to block the DVB and other news channels”, he said that Burmese people cried when they saw footage of the Interview with the two Monks holding their bruised heads. The authorities are afraid the peoples’ anger will turn towards them more and more, after seeing these kinds of tortures and atrocities.

Finally he concluded the Interview by saying Burmese authorities have DJ disease.

When asked what he means by the DJ disease, he replied, D is for Depression combined with J for Jealousy- this is the disease deeply rooted in the Military Junta of Burma.

This is just an abstract of the real interview in Burmese. To read the full text of DVB interview with Zarganar at

http://burmese.dvb.no/news.php?id=3412

Sit Mone

Burmese Actor Kyaw Thu’s daughter wedding banned by Military censorship.

Mizzima news reported activist actor Kyaw Thu’s daughter’s wedding advertisment was childishly banned in Junta controlled newspapers in Military Ruled Burma.

Original Full text news( Mizzima)

http://mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/Dec/12,%20Dec,%202007.html

news from Mizzima is as follows,

Mizzima News – In a blatant act of vindictiveness, a wedding advertisement for prominent movie actor Kyaw Thu’s daughter has been banned by the Burmese military junta’s censorship board, allegedly for the actor’s involvement in the monk-led protests in September.

The censorship board has stopped the inclusion of the wedding advertisement of actor Kyaw Thu’s only daughter Myint Mo Oo in any of the newspapers in Burma. Myint Mo Oo, who is living in Australia, will wed Kyaw Ko Ko in Sydney on December 16, 2007.

“As for me I have been banned from all my work like acting or directing. And my name cannot be published in any of the journals or newspapers. Even to advertise my daughter’s wedding I cannot include my name,” actor Kyaw Thu told Mizzima.

During a rare press briefing held at Burma’s new jungle capital, Nay Pyi Taw, the Burmese Information Minister Brig. Gen Kyaw San described artists and litterateurs who participated in the September monk-led protests, as ‘those lacking patriotism’.

“I don’t understand what they [the junta] mean and I don’t know what they want to refer to,” Kyaw Thu said.

“We did not do it just because others were doing it. We all joined out of our own free will. Ko Thura [comedian Zargarnar] also joined on his own and I did the same. But since we had the same intention, we met and it comes out that Kyaw Thu and Zargarnar joined hands,” added the Burmese film academy award winning actor.

The Burmese actor along with several other artists, poets and litterateurs during the protests in September offered ‘Swan’, food offerings, to the protesting monks at Burma’s most revered Pagoda of Shwe Dagon .

Following the protests and the junta’s brutal crackdown, authorities arrested Kyaw Thu, Zargarnar and several other artists as well as politicians and activists. However, the junta later released Kyaw Thu and Zargarnar after detaining them for three weeks.

The junta, in its effort to punish the artists, has banned all works of artists who took part in the protests. More than 20 of Kyaw Thu’s films are currently banned from being released in theatres.

Similarly, comedian and actor Zargarnar is also banned from performing on stage while writer Than Myint Aung is barred from using her pseudonym and writing for newspapers.

Zargnar’s Latest Joke, Dedicated to Than Shwe

Immediately after being released from detention in an interview with DVB, Zarganar brilliantly create a new joke which is very popular among Burmese. However, his joke is too complicated to translate into English, as he smartly combined Sanskrit and English . I am sorry for unable to translate into English for Non Burmese readers.

ကုိသူရ ေျပာျပတဲ့ သန္းေရႊ ရဲ့ ဘုရားရွိခုိး

ဗုဒၶံ သရဏံ ဂစၦာမိ …
ဓမံၼ သရဏံ ဂစၦာမိ …
သံဃံ သရဏံ ဂန္းစာမိ…

Zarganar Interveiw with DVB after being released from Detention.

 

Photo. Irrawaddy 

I am very happy to hear the same strong, deep, powerful voice of Zarganar (U Thura), again in an interview with DVB. The interview was in Bumese, for the Burmese friends .. please do listen  at http://burmese.dvb.no/news.php?id=2500, as you will be surprised as he could still make joke, and all the detailed of how he was in the jail, condition of Burmese Notorious Insein Prison, and conditions of fellow comrades in jail..

For those who do not know who Zarganar is and Why he is a Hero Of  Burma could read about him in my previous posts,http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/tribute-to-zarganar-hero-of-burma/ and

 http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/zargarnar-released-kyaw-thu-and-wife-also-released/ .

However politically important figure like ” Daw Aung San Su Kyi” “U Tin OO” of NLD, “Min Ko Naing”, 88 generation students, and prominent politicians, and activists are still under detention.

Thailand biased analyst Win Min according to AFP said  Myanmar rulers felt to realese Zaganar and Kyaw Thu to ease international pressure.

I strongly believe that Burmese Generals may have felt obliged to please Chinese Masters, who were in very awkawrd situation in between the-whole free world  and Army Junta ‘s recent brutal crak down of prodemocracy activist in Burma.

Excerpts of the interview with DVB

How he was released

He was told by authority that they are going to move him to another jail. He was moved from few jails during his detention. He just followed with the authority to the Jail gate, then he was told that being released. He arrived home at 7;30pm.

Ha …ha..ha…laughing..

He was released unconditionally ( without singing any agreements or bonds  with junta for future political involvement)

How he was arrested

On 25th of September Midnight about  8 Uniformed personals came into his home and search his belongings and his hand-phone has been taken away, firsts he was sent to Notorious Insein prison, then transferred  to Aung Tha Pyay ..on 24 th of September

Condition in Aung Tha Pyay Camp

Not too bad, he was detained in a spacious room for 4 days.

 Sent  To ARMY DOG CAMP IN INSEIN

On 29th of September he was sent again to Insein prison, but this time is to Army Dog camp, where he was  in a small room, slept over the cement floor, always heard the Dog’s barking, he started coughing and had Bronchitis in this camp.This place is used to detain the hardcore criminals

After 1 week then he was sent to No 5 camp 

He has met with fellow comrades. He also pointed out meeting 20 to 30 youths who were accused of Underground activity. There parents even did not know that they were arrested.

He has spent total 21 days in detention. There was no torture. But he was asked why as a prominent Artist he led the movement.

His answer was an Artist are also from among people, so he feels that all of the artists should involve from the forefront for the National Cause.

Also mentioned about student activists ko Hla Myo Naung, His eye condition is very bad.

Message..Lost touch with current situation, trying to catch up with current situation by reading newspaper and talking to friends.

Feels sad after seeing photoes of brutal attack of Monks and Students.

2 Responses to “Zarganar Interveiw with DVB after being released from Detention.”

Zarganar Released! Kyaw Thu and wife also released.

Activist, comedian, actor, and director Zarganar ( U Thura) was released from three weeks of detention.

His health condition according to fellow activist and and actor Po Phyu is weak. He is a known hypertensive and his blood pressure was still high Po Phyu said. Also said to be  exhausted due to the stress of three week of detention and probably due to interrogation.

Other sources also said the famous activist, actor Kyaw Thu and wife were also released from detention.

In my opinion the Burmese Military Junta is started playing  a new game again, by releasing celebrity activists, but continue arresting ordinary people ( officially announced 3000 people were arrested), harassing and torturing. At the same time also forced the monks to accept their donation. Thus, creating a society with fear, to obey their unjust order and command.

I hope international community is wise enough to see their evil intention and no waning in support for FREE BURMA MOVEMENT.

You can read my previous post “Tribute to Zarganar, Hero of Burma” by clicking the link http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/tribute-to-zarganar-hero-of-burma/

TRIBUTE TO ZARGANAR, HERO OF BURMA.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”-Article 19
Universal Declaration of Human Rights

I have met him once only. It was 27 years ago. At Dental Faculty, Institute Of Medicine in Rangoon. I was introduced to him by my classmate as they were planning for an “Anyeint”.What I remeber about him was he spoke with deep and powerful voice. He has some pimples over face and we excahnged few words only. I never thought in my mind that one day he would become a National Hero of Burma.

Following is his brief biography from Wikipedia. I hope some of our friends who knows him well will leave some posting about him in this blog. We pray for his health as his blood pressure was said to be quite high lately. As military police came in at mid night for his last arrest he said calmly ” Finally you all arrive here, I have been waiting for you for sometimes”.

To me his courage is of exemplary for the fellow Burmese .

He began his career studying dentistry. However, at the age of 20 he was finding success in performing amateur stage comedy, and took it up as a career after finishing his degree. The stage name he picked, Zarganar, translates as “tweezers” and is an allusion to his former career path.^[1]

During the 1988 student uprising in Burma, Zarganar addressed the crowds and agitated for change, leading to his arrest and eight days of interrogation. He was accused of being an “instigator” of the uprising and jailed for a year in Insein prison.

After his release he was arrested again during the 1990 elections for giving political speeches. (His father, also a political activist, at one point gave a speech at the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to a ban by the state censors. Kyi Oo, his mother, was also elected as an independent candidate.) He was sentenced to four years in prison.^[2] A year later the Fund for Free Expression, part of the Human Rights Watch organization, awarded him a Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett Grant.^[3]

After being released from prison he was allowed to participate in film and television, albeit under close scrutiny from censors. In 2004, with the aid of local non-governmental organisations, Zarganar directed three short videos and a film for the purpose of raising awareness of HIV and AIDS in the country.^[4]

In February 2006 a movie that Zarganar directed, entitled Run Out of Patience, was banned before being released. The following May he was banned by the military regime from performing in the country, due to an interview he gave to the BBC‘s service in Burma regarding government regulations on the annual water festival, and having made a television commercial suggesting Taiwanese independence, which the military junta feared would harm its relations with China.^[5]

In February 2007, Zarganar gave a talk at a debate at the American Center, a venue operated by the embassy of the U.S. in Yangon. He was subsequently accused by the New Light of Myanmar, a state-run newspaper, of participating in “illegal” activities and inciting “public unrest and violence”, an accusation he denied.^[6]

On September 26 2007 at 1:30AM, Zarganar was arrested at his home by police for his participation in the ongoing anti-government protests. During the preceding two days he had, with fellow Burmese celebrity Kyaw Thu, publically delivered food and water to Buddhist monks preparing to protest. During the preceding weekend, he had urged the public to support the monks in radio interviews from outside the country.

Source Wikepedia

Sit Mone

To read all the post of Zarganar please type Zarganar at Serach column or go to catagoray drawdown menu and look for Zarganar and just click. You will see all the posts related to Zargnar in this weblog.

regards,

Sit Mone

Some links in this post

Zarganar will be the director of the Movie, “Biography of General Aung San”

http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/zarganar-will-be-the-director-of-the-movie-biography-of-general-aung-san/

Zarganar said DJ Disease deeply rooted in the Military Junta of Burma!

http://burmasitmone.wordpress.com/2008/01/04/zarganar-said-dj-disease-deeply-rooted-in-the-military-junta-of-burma/

One Response to “TRIBUTE TO ZARGANAR, HERO OF BURMA.”